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PODCAST

New Books in Science, Technology, and Society

New Books Network

This podcast is a channel on the New Books Network. The New Books Network is an academic audio library dedicated to public education. In each episode you will hear scholars discuss their recently published research with another expert in their field. Discover our 150+ channels and browse our 28,000+ episodes on our website: ⁠newbooksnetwork.com⁠ Subscribe to our free weekly Substack newsletter to get informative, engaging content straight to your inbox:

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All Episodes

78:32

Justin Khoury, “Cosmological Conundrums” (Open...

New Books in Science, Technology, and Society ·

2021/09/21

Cosmological Conundrums is based on an in-depth filmed conversation between Howard Burton and Justin Khoury, Professor of Physics at the University of Pennsylvania. This thoughtful, extensive conversation gives a window into the world of a practicing cosmologist, the often-considerable gap between formal scientific positions and personal scientific interests and examines a wide range of fascinating topics that his research covers such as the early universe, the Big Bang, dark matter, dark energy,

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65:56

Ruth Aylett and Patricia A. Vargas, "Living with...

New Books in Science, Technology, and Society ·

2021/09/21

There's a lot of hype about robots; some of it is scary and some of it utopian. In this accessible book, two robotics experts reveal the truth about what robots can and can't do, how they work, and what we can reasonably expect their future capabilities to be. It will not only make you think differently about the capabilities of robots; it will make you think differently about the capabilities of humans. Ruth Aylett and Patricia Vargas discuss the history of our fascination with robots—from chatbots

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54:36

Caley Horan, "Insurance Era: Risk, Governance, and...

New Books in Science, Technology, and Society ·

2021/09/21

Actuarial thinking is everywhere in contemporary America, an often unnoticed byproduct of the postwar insurance industry’s political and economic influence. Calculations of risk permeate our institutions, influencing how we understand and manage crime, education, medicine, finance, and other social issues. In Insurance Era: Risk, Governance, and the Privatization of Security in Postwar America (The University of Chicago Press, 2021), Caley Horan charts the social and economic power of private

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49:09

Firmin DeBrabander, "Life after Privacy: Reclaiming...

New Books in Science, Technology, and Society ·

2021/09/20

As governments and corporations mine our “entrenched culture of sharing” to invade privacy (down to Target creating an algorithm to figure out which shoppers are in the 2nd trimester of pregnancy) what happens to democracy? Can democracy survive with no (or very little privacy)? What if the citizenry cares little about privacy and or is unwilling to protect it? If surveillance is here to stay what are the prospects for individual autonomy? citizenship? democratic discussion and deliberation? Life

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32:28

Princeton UP's "Pedia" Series: Beautiful, Short Books...

New Books in Science, Technology, and Society ·

2021/09/17

Today I talked to Robert Kirk, the publisher of Princeton University Press's "Pedia" book series. Encyclopedic in nature and miniature in form, these books explore the wonders of the natural world, from A to Z. These brief compendiums cover wide ground in thoughtful, witty, and endlessly fascinating entries on the science, natural history, and culture of their subjects. Books in the series include: Insectpedia, Dinopedia, Geopedia, Treepedia, Birdpedia, Florapedia and Fungipedia. More titles are

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87:37

Richard Janko, “The Derveni Papyrus” (Open Agenda, 2021)

New Books in Science, Technology, and Society ·

2021/09/17

The Derveni Papyrus is based on an in-depth filmed conversation between Howard Burton and Richard Janko, Gerald F. Else Distinguished University Professor of Classical Studies at the University of Michigan. This wide-ranging conversation covers Prof. Janko’s research on the Derveni Papyrus, Europe’s oldest surviving manuscript from the 4th century BCE and the most important text relating to early Greek literature, science, religion and philosophy to have come to light since the Renaissance. Howard

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44:29

Patrick T. Reardon, "The Loop: The 'L' Tracks That...

New Books in Science, Technology, and Society ·

2021/09/14

Every day Chicagoans rely on the loop of elevated train tracks to get to their jobs, classrooms, or homes in the city’s downtown. But how much do they know about the single most important structure in the history of the Windy City? In engagingly brisk prose, Patrick T. Reardon unfolds the fascinating story about how Chicago’s elevated Loop was built, gave its name to the downtown, helped unify the city, saved the city’s economy, and was itself saved from destruction in the 1970s. Patrick T

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46:46

Katy Borner, "Atlas of Forecasts: Modeling and...

New Books in Science, Technology, and Society ·

2021/09/10

To envision and create the futures we want, society needs an appropriate understanding of the likely impact of alternative actions. Data models and visualizations offer a way to understand and intelligently manage complex, interlinked systems in science and technology, education, and policymaking. Atlas of Forecasts: Modeling and Mapping Desirable Futures (MIT Press, 2021), from the creator of Atlas of Science and Atlas of Knowledge, shows how we can use data to predict, communicate, and ultimately

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52:24

Caitlin Petre, "All the News That’s Fit to Click: How...

New Books in Science, Technology, and Society ·

2021/09/10

Over the past 15 years, journalism has experienced a rapid proliferation of data about online reader behavior in the form of web metrics. These newsroom metrics influence which stories are written, how news is promoted, and which journalists get hired and fired. Some argue that metrics help journalists better serve their audiences. Others worry that metrics are the contemporary equivalent of a stopwatch-wielding factory manager. In All the News That's Fit to Click: How Metrics Are Transforming the

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34:57

Angelica Malin, "She Made It: The Toolkit for Female...

New Books in Science, Technology, and Society ·

2021/09/09

Today I talked to Angelica Malin about her new book She Made It: The Toolkit for Female Founders in the Digital Age (Kogan Page, 2021). Female entrepreneurs don’t tend to receive the same funding assistance as do their male counterparts, but in turn they have the advantage of often connecting more effectively with their target markets. It’s their soft skills, in effect, that can see them through observes Angelica Malin. Plus one should never forget the power of having a greater purpose, a sense of

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62:23

Silvia Casini, "Giving Bodies Back to Data: Image...

New Books in Science, Technology, and Society ·

2021/09/09

Our bodies are scanned, probed, imaged, sampled, and transformed into data by clinicians and technologists. In Giving Bodies Back to Data: Image Makers, Bricolage, and Reinvention in Magnetic Resonance Technology (MIT Press, 2021), Silvia Casini reveals the affective relations and materiality that turn data into image–and in so doing, gives bodies back to data. Opening the black box of MRI technology, Casini examines the bodily, situated aspects of visualization practices around the development of

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102:19

Stephen Hinshaw, “Understanding ADHD” (Open Agenda,...

New Books in Science, Technology, and Society ·

2021/09/09

Understanding ADHD is based on an in-depth, filmed conversation between Howard Burton and Stephen Hinshaw, Professor of Psychology at UC Berkeley. Stephen Hinshaw is an expert in the fields of clinical child and adolescent psychology and developmental psychopathology, as well as stigma, preventive interventions and dehumanization related to mental illness. Howard Burton is the founder of the Ideas Roadshow, Ideas on Film and host of the Ideas Roadshow Podcast. He can be reached at

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39:48

Stephen J. Pyne, "The Pyrocene: How We Created an Age...

New Books in Science, Technology, and Society ·

2021/09/08

Stephen J. Pyne's new book The Pyrocene: How We Created an Age of Fire, and What Happens Next (U California Press, 2021) tells the story of what happened when a fire-wielding species, humanity, met an especially fire-receptive time in Earth's history. Since terrestrial life first appeared, flames have flourished. Over the past two million years, however, one genus gained the ability to manipulate fire, swiftly remaking both itself and eventually the world. We developed small guts and big heads by

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55:15

Emma Marris, "Wild Souls: Freedom and Flourishing in...

New Books in Science, Technology, and Society ·

2021/09/08

In Wild Souls: Freedom and Flourishing in the Non-Human World (Bloomsbury Publishing, 2021), Emma Marris wrestles with big ethical questions facing the conservation field. Emma takes us through several experiences that informed the book, exposing us to relevant on-the-ground decisions impacting the life or death of animals. When the interests of individual animals conflict with the goals of biodiversity preservation, is it okay to kill? Are any animals truly wild now that humans have directly

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49:20

Audrey Watters, "Teaching Machines: The History of...

New Books in Science, Technology, and Society ·

2021/09/07

Contrary to the claims of many of today’s advocates of computerized instruction and online learning, efforts to use technology to improve the education process are hardly new. In Teaching Machines: The History of Personalized Learning (MIT Press, 2021), Audrey Watters recounts the attempts over the past century to use technology to improve educational procedures. These began over a century ago with psychologist Sidney Pressy’s effort to invent an “automatic teacher” that would eliminate drudgery by

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97:55

Nayanika Mathur, "Crooked Cats: Beastly Encounters in...

New Books in Science, Technology, and Society ·

2021/09/07

Big cats—tigers, leopards, and lions—that make prey of humans are commonly known as “man-eaters.” Anthropologist Nayanika Mathur reconceptualizes them as cats that have gone off the straight path to become “crooked.” Building upon fifteen years of research in India, this groundbreaking work moves beyond both colonial and conservationist accounts to place crooked cats at the center of the question of how we are to comprehend a planet in crisis. There are many theories on why and how a big cat comes

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113:29

Joanna Haigh, “Solar Impact: Climate and the Sun”...

New Books in Science, Technology, and Society ·

2021/09/06

Solar Impact: Climate and the Sun is based on an in-depth filmed conversation between Howard Burton and Joanna Haigh, Professor Emerita of Atmospheric Physics at Imperial College London and Co-Director of the Grantham Institute until her retirement in 2019. After inspiring details about how she got into her field of study and how we can encourage more girls to get more interested in science, the conversation examines her research of the influence of the sun and solar variability on our climate, how

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49:55

H. Glenn Penny, "In Humboldt's Shadow: A Tragic...

New Books in Science, Technology, and Society ·

2021/09/06

The Berlin Ethnological Museum is one of the world's largest and most important anthropological museums, housing more than a half million objects collected from around the globe. In Humboldt's Shadow tells the story of the German scientists and adventurers who, inspired by Alexander von Humboldt's inclusive vision of the world, traveled the earth in pursuit of a total history of humanity. It also details the fate of their museum, which they hoped would be a scientists' workshop, a place where a

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64:24

Anil Seth, "Being You: A New Science of...

New Books in Science, Technology, and Society ·

2021/09/02

Anil Seth's quest to understand the biological basis of conscious experience is one of the most exciting contributions to twenty-first-century science. An unprecedented tour of consciousness thanks to new experimental evidence, much of which comes from Anil Seth's own lab. His radical argument is that we do not perceive the world as it objectively is, but rather that we are prediction machines, constantly inventing our world and correcting our mistakes by the microsecond, and that we can now observe

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79:26

Jennifer Groh, “Knowing One’s Place: Space and the...

New Books in Science, Technology, and Society ·

2021/09/02

Knowing One’s Place: Space and the Brain is based on an in-depth, filmed conversation between Howard Burton and Jennifer Groh, Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at Duke University. After an inspiring story about how she became interested in neuroscience, this thoughtful conversation examines Jennifer Groh’s extensive research on how the brain combines various streams of sensory input to determine where things are, together with the corresponding implications for a wide range of issues, from

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2,488 results

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